Chocolate Gifts and Babysitting
by She's Hearing Voices
Summary: Sunnydale is closed and Buffy and Faith are sharing a hotel room. One-shot. Buffy/Faith


Buffy was confused. Not only were there empty food cartons scattered about the room, but there were sheets pulled from the bed, and the television set was left on with a video game in progress.

Buffy had to follow the controller of the video game to find the person responsible for the massacre in her hotel room. She had known who it was all along, so she wasn't surprised to find Faith laying on the floor in the middle of the bed and the wall, asleep.

The blonde had found it hard to suppress her smile as she watched the sleeping slayer. Her smile only widened when she saw a chocolate stain in the corner of Faith's mouth.

When Faith had told Buffy that she was going to watch the kid across the hall for the day, the blonde found it hard to not let her eyes bug out of her head, and her mouth drop to the floor. Buffy never imagined Faith would be patient enough to actually babysit someone's kid. She knew she wasn't.

In response, Buffy merely nodded her head and told the brunette that she'd be shopping with Dawn for the day anyways and that they could play video games and eat junk food in their hotel room. Faith had obviously taken that offer wholeheartedly.

After the fall of Sunnydale, they had both thought it was a good idea if they shared a room and reconnected. And reconnected they were. Buffy was learning that there was a whole other side to the dark slayer that she'd never seen before, a softer side.

Quietly, Buffy started to clean the place up. She took a trash bag out and started to pick up the many cartons that had been left on the floor. Afterwards, she turned off the television and the playstation that had been left on.

Now, she found herself sitting on the edge of the bed and simply watched Faith as she slept. Buffy had to laugh at the sight. Seems like the little guy gave Faith a run for her money, she thought with a smile. Buffy was always amazed at how perfect Faith looked, chocolate stains and all. She could stare at the other slayer the rest of the night.

A few seconds later, Faith started to stir. While stretching, Buffy couldn't help but notice Faith's tank starting to rise.

"See somethin ya like B?" Faith's tired voice asked.

Buffy laughed at that. The other girl was always one for sexual comments. Buffy found it confusing as hell though with all the mixed signals she was giving. "I am actually. I'm starting to think that maybe I missed the memo on chocolate being a fashion statement." She said humorously.

While sitting up, Faith flashed a confused look and muttered a, "Huh?"

With a smile, Buffy pointed to her lips and said, "Got a little something there."

Faith nodded and started to lick away the excess chocolate on her lips. Buffy wanted to moan at the sight of Faith's tongue working its magic.

"That better?" Faith asked.

"Tons." Buffy breathed out.

The room grew quiet as Faith stood up and took a seat next to Buffy on the bed. Buffy noted on how close Faith decided to sit next to her. Breaking the silence, Buffy said, "So you two looked like you had fun."

Faith gave her throaty chuckle and said, "He may only be ten, but that kid kicked my ass. I feel like I had a run-in with ten vamps."

Buffy had to laugh. A few years ago, hell even a few months ago, Faith wouldn't have admitted to a kid tiring her out. It just went to show the blonde on how much the other slayer had truly changed.

"Sorry about the mess by the way. I was gonna clean it up, but I wanted to catch a few z's before ya got back." Faith said.

Buffy nodded. "It's alright. Wasn't too bad, just a few empty boxes here and there." She reasoned.

"How was shopping with the sis?"

"Fun. Oh! I forgot, I got you something." Buffy said excitedly as she jumped off the bed and practically ran to her shopping bags.

Faith cringed. "It's not a dress is it? Cause me and the frillies don't get along too good."

Buffy laughed. "No, it's not a dress. Although … it would be nice to see you in one for once in your life."

"Been there, done that. Not my style B." Faith said, leaving out that she had actually worn a dress for the Mayor way back in the day. No need to bring that up now however.

Buffy gave her a small pout before putting on a determined face. "One of these days I'll get you in one."

Faith chuckled and said, "We'll have to see about that. It's probably going to be one of our most epic battles yet."

Buffy nodded and dug into one of her shopping bags, and pulled out a small box. She walked over to Faith, who was still seated on the bed and handed it to her.

Faith shifted rather uncomfortably on the bed and said, "Ya didn't have to do this B. I mean it's not like there's anything to celebrate."

Buffy raised a brow at her. "That's no way to talk about your birthday Faith." She gave Faith a look and said, "Kennedy told me yesterday. You should have said something." In truth, Buffy was actually hurt that Faith decided to tell Kennedy and not herself, but then Kennedy had told her that Faith didn't want to make a big deal out of it and she knew that the blonde would be all about the 'making a big deal'.

"I'll have to thank her later." Faith replied sarcastically.

"Well? Are you going to sulk all day because you're another year older, or are you going to open your gift?" Buffy asked as she took a seat next to Faith on the bed, this time, giving little room between her and the brunette.

Faith seemed to have noticed this because her brow rose suggestively for only a second, before she looked back down at her gift. "Alright, here goes nothing." She said as she started to untie the small ribbon on the box.

Buffy watched with anticipation. She loved watching other people open the gifts she bought for them. Seeing someone's facial expression as they opened something unknown was priceless. Faith's expression was very concentrated at first, and Buffy found it cute when she bit her lip as she tried to figure out how to untie the ribbon without breaking it.

Finally the dark slayer had the ribbon off and the box opened to reveal something Faith wasn't expecting at all. "How … how did you get this?" She asked, her voice cracking with emotion she'd never felt before.

Buffy smiled warmly at her and shrugged. "Giles knew a guy at the library, so he set me up. Do you like it?"

Faith pulled out the 1st edition of Winnie the Pooh, and traced the edges lightly, as if it were only a figment of her imagination. She could feel hot tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. "I … I can't even believe you re- … I love it."

Buffy didn't think her smile could grow any bigger. She remembered the day they had passed an antiques store and Faith had stopped to look at something in the glass window. It was an old stuffed animal of Tigger. Faith went on into telling Buffy minor details about her childhood and how sometimes her nana would read Winnie the Pooh to her, and how she thought of herself as Tigger, happy and carefree. Buffy's heart clenched at the story. It was one of the first times Faith had ever opened up about her childhood.

"Thank you." Faith said softly, breaking Buffy out of her thoughts.

Buffy saw the glossy look in Faith's eyes and she wanted nothing more than to caress her cheek, but she didn't, instead she opted for, "You're very welcome."

Faith placed the book down gently and looked back into Buffy's eyes. "No, I mean thank you … for everything. For giving me a second chance, for stayin in a room with me, I know it's not easy… but thanks. I never thought we'd be like this."

"Me neither." Buffy whispered. She was semi-overwhelmed by Faith's thanks you, but she was also pleasantly surprised by it.

"In the past month I've learned more about you than I could imagine and I just can't help but think that things would be different if I hadn't ignored you, or pushed you away. Things would have been-"

Buffy was cut off by Faith. "Don't say stuff like that. I did what I did because I was some stupid kid too wrapped up in my own head to even think about anyone else. All I cared about was myself and this image I had to keep up. Don't blame yourself for what I did."

"I still can't help but think of how it would've been to have you by my side during those years you were away." Buffy said softly.

Faith chuckled lightly. "I don't know … I think about it sometimes too though. I probably would've-" Faith stopped midsentence.

Buffy looked at her confused. "What?"

After another chuckle Faith said, "I probably would've made a move and screwed up our entire friendship."

Buffy's mouth suddenly grew dry. "What?"

Faith shrugged. "I had this mad crush on you, even during the whole evil phase."

Buffy's gaze fell to the floor and then back up at Faith. "_Had_?"

Faith drew in a large breath and let it out slowly. "Had, have, what difference does it make?"

"It makes a difference." Buffy replied.

"Alright, _have_. I mean it's not like you-"

This time however, Faith was cut off by Buffy's lips against her own. Neither girl was prepared for how perfect and right it felt. Buffy also found out that Faith hadn't managed to get all the chocolate off of her lips. She spent the rest of the night looking for more on other areas of Faith's body.


End file.
